POLL: The Best of TIFF 2019

The 2019 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has come to a close with Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit taking the event’s top prize, the Grolsch People’s Choice Award. Our five attendees either missed that one or decided there were too many other great titles overshadowing it in their memory as it landed just a single vote. That happens when we see a collective 100-plus films during the eleven-day festival. We’ve used a weighted ranking of our individual favorites in order to compile this consensus with everyone’s top pick worth ten points, second pick nine points, and so on.

Our vote for “best of the fest” is Rian Johnson’s “whodunnit” Knives Out. With a mention by four of our five critics, it also ties Cory Finley’s Bad Education for receiving the most single votes. Second place saw its own tie between Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story (the Grolsch People’s Choice First Runner-Up) and the Safdie Brothers’ Uncut Gems with three mentions each. And right behind them is Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite (the Grolsch People’s Choice Second Runner-Up) and its two first-place votes—the most of any title.

Ten of our eleven picks (due to ties) have already secured US distribution in 2019 or 2020, so you will be able to watch them on Blu-Ray/VOD if they don’t make it to WNY theaters. See below for everyone’s full lists (10 or fewer).

GWNYFCA’s Top Ten Films from the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival:

Adam Lubitow1. Parasite
2. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
3. Saint Maud
4. Sound of Metal
5. Knives Out
6. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
7. Marriage Story
8. Bad Education
9. The Long Walk
10. The Report